Why does God Allow us to Suffer?

The age-old question of why do bad things happen to the just?  This query may be asked with many adjectives that will make us think deeply regarding our own dilemmas.

How many Psalms are there that deal with Lamentations?   Just read through the Old Testament and see how often the issue of God’s chosen ones ask the same question.  Even Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, sweating drops of blood and asking His Father to take this cup from him.  Is it any wonder that the human capacity to accept pain is very difficult to fathom? 

We are told that when our bodies are in deep trauma we actually might bleed through the pores and that is severe.  Jesus did this and no one can say that God doesn’t feel pain.  Jesus is God and Man and did feel human pain and suffering.  He understands our pain as well.  

A relative of my wife, while suffering from terminal cancer, cried out for someone to kill her as the pain became unbearable, even with morphine and other pain reducers.  No doubt most people know someone, if not themselves, that either did or currently is going through similar experiences right now.  Like other ministers or persons in the medical field, I too do not have the answer that will solve this problem. 

From Genesis we see the beginning of punishment for disobeying God.  “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat, cursed be the ground because of you!  In toil you shall eat its yield all the days of your life.  Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you, as you eat of the plants of the field.  By the sweat of your face shall you eat until you return to the ground from which you were taken; for you are dirt and to dirt you shall return.”  (Gen. 3: 17 - 19).

Of course, what better analogy could the writer use than to show that all of humanity has inherited the sin of Adam and only one person could bring this to an end; the second Adam, Jesus Christ.  Until that occurred we are the recipients of our first parents’ mistake and it certainly has not receded from time immemorial.  

Each person reading this could write or proclaim an antidote to counter this age-old question.  Yet, it will not end the suffering that has existed for millenniums and puzzles the greatest minds.  Then, we ask, why?  Is God playing with our deepest emotions to allow this at a time when so many have turned to Him in supplication and need?  Or does God wish to see how far out on a branch we can crawl before the branch breaks and the ground comes up very quickly?  

The answer, in the best of conclusion, opens the door to another poignant thought.  God knew, before he even created the world to be nurtured by humankind, that we would reject Him from the beginning, even with His generosity of life itself.  However, we must remember that in His Infinite Wisdom, man would need a Savior to bring us back to center stage.  But, to simply give us a carat-blanche ticket, would not be the answer.  We shall have to struggle, with His help, to receive his forgiveness.  That is where suffering, from our perspective, enters the scenario of man’s downfall surrounded by pain.

When one suffers, all suffer.  When one rejoices, all rejoice.  This is a simple mantra that fits the questions of all disasters and disappointments in life.  Adam fell, and consequently all humanity fell.  When Jesus died on the Cross sin was destroyed and through His Resurrection all will rise as well.

Without the Cross, there is no Resurrection.  Without suffering, there is no Cross.  Eliminate suffering, as many in today’s society are attempting to accomplish, and we may lose the reason and very essence of the total forgiveness that God offers to each of us.  If God had just said man does not need to find a way to desire His companionship, we would never understand Him and eventually the Beatific Vision with all it’s deep meaning could never be ours.  We would never appreciate it and God.

Embrace suffering since it is the only way to be with God in eternity.  Yes, there will be those who will get through life without pain and disappointments; but their souls may not find God face to face.  Theirs will be from a glass darkly, without ever clearly seeing or living with their creator.  

Ralph B. Hathaway, November 2019